This is the heart-warming moment a sperm whale felt reluctant to leave its rescuers after they freed it from a fishing net on the coast of southeast China’s Shenzhen sea.
Measuring 33 feet in length and 472 stone in weight, the whale was spotted on the morning of March 12 by scuba divers who swam out to cut the nets off its mouth and body.
Fishermen drove the scuba divers to help removing the obstacles on the whale
Fishing nets were found tangling around the 33 ft long sperm whale’s mouth and back
According to People’s Daily Online, the sperm whale was found stranded at the open sea opposite of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant by a group of fishermen around 10am.
One witness, Ah Cai, 30, reported the sighting of sperm whale to the local fishery department.
‘I could see a lot of fishing nets tangled on the whale’s back.
‘I didn’t know if was safe to go close to the whale but I had already called a nearby scuba diving club and asked for help,’ he explained.
Rescuers collected the fishing nets from the mammal’s back and attempted to guide the whale
After a three-hour rescue, the sperm whale was set free but it stayed around the shore area
‘Dive For Love’ sent six experienced scuba diving instructors to rescue.
Footage captures the moment the instructors go into the water and cut off the net on the whale’s body.
However, the sperm whale did not seem to leave the shore area after the rescue.
The whale was stranded in shallow waters and rescuers worried about its chances of survival
Marine experts attempted to use sonar devices to lead the mammal back to deep sea
Mr Han, from Dapeng Fisheries Department said the whale was ‘keep swimming in circles’ though they tried to use a boat to lead the whale to deeper parts of the sea.
Morgan Xia, a volunteer from ‘Dive For Love’ expressed his concern as the whale might die of hunger at the shallow shore area.
At 6:30pm local time, the sperm whale was reportedly to be staying at a deeper region near Huizhou.
Marine Department officers and Chinese marine experts arrived on the scene yesterday, attempting to use sonar devices to lead the mammal back to the open sea.
They worried the sperm whale would end up stranded and die of hunger. Rescuers told the reporters that the whale kept spraying water out of its blowholes.
Experts said the sperm whale failed to use its sonar to navigate directions and is currently in critical condition.